It sounds to me like the group had a beautiful experience. In all things give thanks.
Best wishes always, Jim -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Douglas D. Germann, Sr. Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 11:56 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: How do you know when it has gone well? To my good friends-- Wanted to report on my latest OST on Saturday. It was a one-day event, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. 12 people were invited, 8 attended. My sponsor, the employer of all of them, was disappointed--one had a garage sale, another was babysitting. I of course told her "whoever comes...." Eleven topics were posted. We had 3 blocks of time, 70 minutes each. There were 4 session the first time slot, 3 the second, 4 the third. They combined two topics in the second slot, and the proposer withdrew one topic in the third slot. The first slot ended up with two people in one location, three in another, only one in one. So what happened was that one of the groups finished early, went in to the one with one person, they finished early, and then went to the group with only two, and everybody ended up there. I think they did much the same in the other two time slots, although they met in different rooms and kept moving about. We had 9 reports in our book--which we did on a photocopier, since the handwritten notes were all legible. The convergence produced 4 top issues, and they did come up with some next steps they felt were viable. Lots of tears in the closing circle: one lady said that she really achieved an aha (even though she earlier had not wanted to come), and that she was now closer to everybody than she had been. Simple, elegant language. The next woman said "What is it about this stick?!" They were passing it with a roll of toilet paper--we could not find any tissues. This morning I wrote this poem in response to that question--wish I had had the words to share (and a tape recorder for some of their comments!) when it first came up. What is it...? What is it about this stick? It goes to the roots Of ourselves And our lives where they touch. The word we have for root-ical is radical So it is a revolution A stirring You have felt. You have seen a new way of living; And with it something passes away. So in the days ahead expect To grieve: To cling, to bargain, to anger, to question. To question is the beginning of the end of the old; To question is the beginning of the beginning; For from gathering to gathering the question is: How do we choose to live our lives? Which brings me to a question for all of you--how do you know when an OST has gone well? I did not feel it appropriate to pass around an evaluation sheet to all the participants. And I stayed out of the meetings (there aren't many coffee cups to pick up after 8 people!). Does the volume of tears reflect anything to you? How about the depth of the comments in the closing circle? :-Doug. Germann * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
